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- pronunciation:
- pe
tr
faI
- features:
- Word Combinations (verb), Word Parts
| part of speech: |
verb |
| inflections: |
petrifies, petrifying, petrified |
| definition 1: |
to turn into stone. Minerals left behind by water petrify wood by replacing woods cells when they die.
These pieces of petrified wood are made almost entirely of quartz crystal.
- similar words:
- deaden, freeze, harden, numb
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| definition 2: |
to make unable to act or move from terror.
That monster movie really petrified me.- similar words:
- astonish, astound, daze, frighten, paralyze, stun, terrify
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(v.)petrify
+ noun
architecture, armor, biscuit, boredom, clam, group, imagery, interest, living, potassium, resin, term, vowel
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| derivations: |
petrifiable (adj.), petrified (adj.), petrifaction (n.), petrification (n.) |
The word petrify
contains the following parts:
petr, petro
Latin and Greek
root
that means rock, stone
  Example words:
- synonyms:
- lith, litho, -lite, -lithic
-fy, -ify, -efy
Latin
verb-forming suffix
that means make, cause to be, become
More about this word part:
The suffix group -fy
, -ify
, -efy
forms verbs from primarily Latin bases. When -ify
attaches to an English base, the base is an adjective (uglify, Frenchify) or noun (citify, zombify) usually having one syllable or two syllables ending in |i|. Verbs ending in -fy
have corresponding noun forms ending in -ion: as a rule, -ify
becomes -ification ( verify
, verification); -efy
becomes -efaction (putrefy, putrefaction). See also fac, fic, fec, fact, fect.
Example words:
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